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Serbia

Serbia is a candidate country for the European Union membership and has been pursuing economic and political reforms to align with the EU standards and values. Serbia has a diverse and dynamic digital landscape, with a growing ICT sector, a vibrant start-up scene, and a strong commitment to developing AI for social and economic benefits.

Internet governance

Serbia participates in the Berlin process for the Western Balkans, highlighting digital connectivity as one of the areas of cooperation under the ‘connectivity agenda.’ One key initiative from the perspective of IG within the Berlin process is the establishment of the EU’s Digital Agenda for the Western Balkans, focused on promoting digital connectivity and infrastructure development in the region, including expanding broadband access, improving digital literacy, and supporting digital entrepreneurship and innovation. In addition, the initiative has supported the establishment of a regional cybersecurity platform to enhance cooperation on cybersecurity issues and promote the development of cyber resilience in the WB. Other digital aspects of the Berlin Process include support for developing e-government and digital public services, and efforts to promote digital skills development and training.

Serbian stakeholders are active participants in various internet governance forums and initiatives at the regional and global levels. Serbian stakeholders participate in the annual South Eastern European Dialogue on Internet Governance (SEE+) and Dialogue on Internet Governance (EuroDIG) events, which bring together stakeholders from the region to discuss digital policy-related issues and challenges. At the global level, Serbia is a member of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF).

Serbia also has a national internet governance initiative called Serbian IGF, which was established as a bottom-up, multistakeholder platform for discussing internet-related public policy issues in Serbia.

The first national IGF Serbia was held in May 2022 in Belgrade. However, this is not the first time that a multistakeholder dialogue on IG issues has occurred in Serbia. The first meeting to focus on IG issues took place in 2009 in the form of panel debates. Between 2012 and 2014, an annual event, Serbian Internet Dialogue, was also held.

Digital strategies

Serbia has adopted several digital strategies in recent years to guide its digital transformation process.

  • Strategy for Development of Information Security 2019-2023 is a strategy that aims to improve the level of information security in Serbia and protect the rights and interests of citizens, businesses, and public administration in the digital environment. The strategy covers five areas: legal framework, institutional framework, capacity development, awareness raising, and international cooperation.
  • Digital Skills Development Strategy (2020-2024): contribute to raising the quality of life of all citizens in a modern environment, as well as to greater employment, work efficiency and the overall economic growth of society. Strategic measures are aimed at improving digital competences in the education system, acquiring and developing basic and advanced digital skills for all citizens, raising digital skills in relation to the needs of the labor market and implementing programs intended for ICT experts to monitor development and progress in technology. This strategy has four key strategic objectives
    • Improving digital competencies in the education system.
    • Improving basic and advanced digital skills for all citizens.
    • Developing digital skills in relation to the needs of the labour market.
    • Lifelong learning of ICT professionals.
Cybersecurity

Serbia has taken several steps to enhance its cybersecurity capabilities and resilience in recent years. Some of these steps are:

AI strategies and policies

Serbia has adopted a Strategy for Development of Artificial Intelligence in Serbia for the Period 2020-2025 in 2020 as the first national strategy on AI in the region. The strategy was developed through a participatory and inclusive process involving various stakeholders from academia, industry, government, civil society, and international organizations. The strategy aims to position Serbia as a regional leader in AI research and development and to use AI as a driver of economic growth, social welfare, and democratic values.

As part of the strategy, Serbia has announced the establishment of the Institute for Artificial Intelligence Research and Development in Serbia which will deal with the research into AI applications in various fields. The aim of the institute’s work is to create future personnel and attract investments in the field of AI.
The Serbian AI Society exemplifies the MSH approach through its incorporation of actors from various sectors, including academia, civil society, computer science, the government, and private industry. The society’s initiatives centre on enhancing capacity, facilitating discussions, conducting research, promoting awareness, and facilitating ecosystem collaboration in the field of AI.

The data is sourced from reputable international agencies and organizations. Hover over each field for source information and explanations.
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General profile

Official name: Republic of Serbia

Source: Wikipedia

National internet domain: RS

Source: Wikipedia

Area: 88,361 km2

Source: Wikipedia

Capital: Belgrade

Source: Wikipedia

Population: 7,022,268

Source: Wikipedia

Population growth: -0.80

Annual population growth rate for year t is the exponential rate of growth of midyear population from year t-1 to t, expressed as a percentage. Population is based on the de facto definition of population, which counts all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship.
Source: World Bank Open Data

Life expectancy at birth: 74.23

Total years (2020year) Source: databank.worldbank.org

Rule of law estimate: -0.09

Rule of Law captures perceptions of the extent to which agents have confidence in and abide by the rules of society, and in particular the quality of contract enforcement, property rights, the police, and the courts, as well as the likelihood of crime and violence. Estimate gives the country's score ranging from approximately -2.5 to 2.5 (Estimate 2021)
Source: databank.worldbank.org

Regulatory quality estimate: 0.12

Regulatory Quality captures perceptions of the ability of the government to formulate and implement sound policies and regulations that permit and promote private sector development. Estimate gives the country's score ranging from approximately -2.5 to 2.5 (Estimate 2021)
Source: databank.worldbank.org

Political stability: -0.13

Political Stability and Absence of Violence / Terrorism: measures perceptions of the likelihood that the government will be destabilized or overthrown by unconstitutional or violent means, including politically-motivated violence and terrorism. Estimate gives the country's score ranging from approximately -2.5 to 2.5 (Estimate 2021)
Source: databank.worldbank.org

Economic info

Currency: Serbian dinar

Source: Wikipedia

Unemployment (%): 11.81

Unemployment, total (% of total labor force) Source: databank.worldbank.org

GDP (current US$): 63,068,134,601.13

Source: databank.worldbank.org

GDP growth (annual %): 7.39

Source: databank.worldbank.org

GDP per capita (current US$): 9,214.99

Source: databank.worldbank.org

Inflation, consumer prices (annual %): 4.09

Source: databank.worldbank.org

GNI (current US$): 60,658,609,868.21

The Gross National Income, GNI, formerly referred to as gross national product (GNP), measures the total domestic and foreign value added claimed by residents, at a given period in time, usually a year, expressed in current US dollars using the World Bank Atlas method. GNI comprises GDP plus net receipts of primary income (compensation of employees and property income) from non-resident sources. Source: databank.worldbank.org

Ease of doing business score: 75.65

The ease of doing business score benchmarked economies concerning their proximity to the best performance in each area measured by Doing Business for the year 2019. Estimate gives the country's score ranging from0 = lowest performance to 100 = best performance Source: databank.worldbank.org
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Digital profile

Internet and social media penetration:

Individuals using the internet, total (%): 81.2 (2021)

Source: www.itu.int

Social media statistics: 4.99 million

Estimate for 2022
Source: datareportal.com

Male internet users (%): 89.5 (2021)

Male internet users as a % of total male population
Source: www.itu.int

Facebook users: 3.00 million

Estimate for 2022
Source: datareportal.com

Female internet users (%): 78.8 (2021)

Female Internet users as a % of total female population
Source: www.itu.int

Instagram users: 3.05 million

Estimate for 2022
Source: datareportal.com

Households with internet access at home (%): 81.5 (2021)

Source: www.itu.int

Linkedin users: 1.10 million

Estimate for 2022
Source: datareportal.com

Fixed broadband subscriptions: 26.2 (2021)

Total fixed broadband subscriptions (per 100 people) refers to fixed subscriptions to high-speed access to the public internet (a TCP/IP connection), at downstream speeds equal to, or greater than, 256 kbit/s.
Source: www.itu.int

Twitter users: 402.8 thousand

Estimate for 2022
Source: datareportal.com

Mobile infrastructure and access:

Mobile ownership (%): 89.88

Mobile phone ownership as a % of total population (Estimate for 2021)
Source: https://www.mobileconnectivityindex.com/

Mobile Infrastructure: 71.25

Mobile Infrastructure index: High-performance mobile internet coverage availability. It includes parameters such as network coverage, performance, quality of supporting infrastructure and amount of spectrum assigned to mobile network operators (Estimate for 2021)
Source: https://www.mobileconnectivityindex.com/

Male Mobile ownership (%): 96.6 (2021)

Male mobile phone ownership as a % of total male population
Source: www.itu.int

Mobile Affordability: 65.14

Mobile Affordability index : The availability of mobile services and devices at price points that reflect the level of income across a national population. It includes parameters such as mobile tariffs, headset prices, taxation and inequality (Estimate for 2021)
Source: https://www.mobileconnectivityindex.com/

Female Mobile ownership (%): No data

Female mobile phone ownership as a % of total female population
Source: www.itu.int

Cybersecurity Index: 89.8

Cybersecurity Index (Estimate for 2021): ITU cybersecurity value
Source: www.itu.int

Network performance: 69.49

Network performance index: Quality of mobile services measured by download speed, upload speed and latencies (Estimate for 2021)
Source: https://www.mobileconnectivityindex.com/

Mobile download speeds: 63.38

Mobile download speeds: Average download speed for mobile users (originally in Mbit/s) (Estimate for 2021)
Source: Ookla's Speedtest Intelligence

Mobile uploads speeds: 55.6

Mobile uploads speeds: average uploads speed for mobile users (originally in Mbit/s) (Estimate for 2021)
Source: Ookla's Speedtest Intelligence

Mobile Latencies: 89.49

Mobile Latencies: Average latency for mobile users (originally in milliseconds) (Estimate for 2021)
Source: Ookla's Speedtest Intelligence

Speedtest-Broadband: 51.83

Speedtest-Broadband: The value is expressed in Mbps (Estimate for 2021)
Source: https://www.speedtest.net/global-index

Network Coverage (%): 89.12

Network coverage (% of total population) (Estimate for 2021)
Source: https://www.mobileconnectivityindex.com/

2G Coverage (%): 99.19

Coverage % of population (Estimate for 2021)
Source: www.itu.int

3G Coverage (%): 99.0

Coverage % of population (Estimate for 2021)
Source: https://www.mobileconnectivityindex.com/

4G Coverage (%): 99.0

Coverage % of population (Estimate for 2021)
Source: https://www.mobileconnectivityindex.com/

5G Coverage (%): 0.0

Coverage % of population (Estimate for 2021)
Source: https://www.mobileconnectivityindex.com/

Operating system and browser market share estimate for 2022:

Operating system market share (%):

Desktop, Tablet & Console Operating System Market Share: Estimate for 2022
Source: https://gs.statcounter.com/

Browser market share (%):

Browser Market Share Worldwide: Estimate for 2022
Source: https://gs.statcounter.com/

Android: 43.83

Chrome: 67.93

Win10: 21.41

Safari: 19.66

iOS: 20.54

Edge: 1.69

OS X: 1.69

Firefox: 4.66

Win11: 1.48

Samsung Internet: 2.75


The UN E-Government Survey 2022:

The UN E-Government Survey is the assessment of the digital government landscape across all UN member states. The E-Government Survey is informed by over two decades of longitudinal research, with a ranking of countries based on the UN E-Government Development Index (EGDI), a combination of primary data (collected and owned by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs) and secondary data from other UN agencies.
Source:https://publicadministration.un.org/egovkb/en-us/Reports/UN-E-Government-Survey-2022

E-Government Rank: 40

Nations E-Government Development Index (EGDI), a combination of primary data (collected and owned by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs) and secondary data from other UN agencies. Estimate gives the country's rank.
Source: https://publicadministration.un.org/egovkb/en-us/data-center

E-Government Index: 0.82

The EGDI is a composite measure of three important dimensions of e-government, namely: provision of online services, telecommunication connectivity and human capacity. Estimate gives the country's score ranging from approximately 0 to 1.
Source: https://publicadministration.un.org/egovkb/en-us/data-center

E-Participation Index: 0.81

The E-Participation Index (EPI) is derived as a supplementary index to the United Nations E-Government Survey. Estimate gives the country's score ranging from approximately 0 to 1.
Source: https://publicadministration.un.org/egovkb/en-us/data-center

Online Service Index: 0.85

The online services index was developed by the UN to evaluate the scope and quality of government online services. Estimate gives the country's score ranging from approximately 0 to 1.
Source: https://publicadministration.un.org/egovkb/en-us/data-cente

Human Capital Index: 0.83

The Human Capital Index (HCI) quantifies the contribution of health and education to the productivity of the next generation of workers. Estimate gives the country's score ranging from approximately 0 to 1.
Source: https://publicadministration.un.org/egovkb/en-us/data-center

Telecommunication Infrastructure Index: 0.79

Telecommunication Infrastructure Index- Telecommunication Infrastructure Index (TII) Composite Indicator that measures the countries' Telecommunication infrastructure readiness to adopt the opportunities offered by Information and Communication Technology as to enhance their competitiveness. Estimate gives the country's score ranging from approximately 0 to 1.
Source: https://publicadministration.un.org/egovkb/en-us/data-center

ICT information:

ICT skills

Information economy indicators

Individuals with basic ICT skills (%): 60.7 (2021)

Source: www.itu.int

Share of ICT goods, % of total exports (value) 1.66 (2021)

Source: https://unctadstat.unctad.org/

Individuals with standard ICT skills (%): 49.2 (2021)

Source: www.itu.int

Share of ICT goods, % of total import (value): 4.04 (2021)

Source: https://unctadstat.unctad.org/

Individuals with advanced ICT skills (%): 1.7 (2021)

Source: www.itu.int

Most visited website: kurir.rs

The survey conducted in 2022 excluded global dominant sites (e.g., YouTube, Facebook, and Google) and search engines (e.g., Yahoo, Baidu, DuckDuckGo, Naver, and Yandex) to level the playing field and discount middle-man visits. Likewise, it did not include adult, betting, illegal streaming/downloading services, and malicious websites.
Source: https://www.hostinger.com/tutorials/the-most-visited-website-in-every-country

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